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June 08, 2010, 05:12:55 PM |
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Thank you for the replies - I didn't realize it could take an entire week to generate coins!
As far as suggestions on how to make it more accepted - I doubt I'll suggest anything that hasn't been mentioned already, but the key things are usually :
1) Numerous and easy availability of exchangers, possibly with very low spreads for exchange fees. I get angry when I see DGC's (Digital Gold Currencies) charging as much as 5% for exchanging.. it's great for exchangers, but I think it's highway robbery.
2) Obviously the big one is - acceptance. Get as many possible people, websites, companies, etc. to start accepting them... I remember at the peak of e-gold's popularity back in the mid 2000's, e-gold was seen by its users to be as good as cash and perhaps even better. Many places accepted it, many people accepted it.. there were plenty of uses for it, etc. So get those buttons saying 'we accept BC$' or whatever on your websites, blogs or whatnot.. spread the message.
3) This one doesn't apply in this case because Bitcoin is designed for anonymity - but I was going to say, semi-anonymity or total anonymity is very important. Not because people have anything to hide - but because people like their privacy, and simplicity. I like using cash in my daily life because I can do things without government authorities and employees of credit card corporations, and employees of my bank, knowing how I live my life. Say for instance you want to buy some kinky lingerie for your girlfriend or wife. Does MasterCard, the police (with a warrant), lawyers (with warrants, etc.), government & taxation authorities in your country, do all these people really need to know about this purchase? Again it's not that you're doing anything wrong - it's just that privacy and liberty are highly valued by people and the logical fallacy that traceability somehow equals security is well, I'm sure any reasonably intelligent person can see the logical fallacy in that argument so no need to beat a dead horse... again, I know this doesn't apply to BitCoin, but just want to mention it.
4) Make it as non-geeky as possible. Click a button, send money. Click another button, receive money. Make it idiot-proof. It's not because people are idiots.. it's because, simple interfaces tend to be very appealing to mainstream people.
5) Along with #4, make sure to have a super-simple backup feature. I know I can go into my documents and settings\application data\bitcoin\whatever to make a backup of my money, but my grandma won't bother doing that. My grandma knows that if she opens her drawer, she's got her 100's stashed in there for a rainy day - that is her 'backup'. Make the 'backup' feature - say, perhaps, to a flash drive - as idiot proof as possible.
6) Give people some kind of assurance that there isn't a way that the operator of the currency can just start minting bitcoins at will. It's probably irrelevant at the moment - but imagine if BC$ was as popular as e-gold in its heyday - the owner, if he were less than honest, could essentially be an Internet millionaire spending his own currency at will around the interwebs. In theory it's possible with any digital currency - but at least, the theory behind the digital gold currencies is that if all else fails, you can call them up and redeem physical gold (I'm referring to c-gold, e-gold, Pecunix, GoldMoney, and probably many others) so you have something 'tangible' as backup. What is BC backed by? Just saying, these might be things that a skeptic will ask himself before wanting to use this currency.
Again I probably didn't add anything new, but I gave you my 2 cents anyway... hope it helps...
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